florida weather

Twenty-five years ago, in those harrowing days and weeks after Hurricane Andrew, people were trying to figure out how to cope with the destruction and trauma that the storm left behind. One of the ways they did that was by recording songs and sending them to TV meteorologist Bryan Norcross.

A new tropical storm is likely to form in the western Atlantic later today, but Meteorologist Jeff Huffman is more concerned with what's behind it.

"Soon-to-be tropical Storm Harvey is forecast to become a hurricane, but track well to the south through the Caribbean. Behind it, the tropical wave referred to as Invest 92, is more likely to move in the general direction of Florida by early next week. Confidence at this time, however, is low on whether it will develop or how strong it might become", said Huffman.

Hurricane season doesn't officially start until June 1, but preparations are already underway. The National Weather Service outlined some new ways it's warning Floridians about possible danger at a briefing Tuesday in Tampa.

The state tourism industry calls it “Bragging Season”. To the weather community, the three-month period from December to February is referred to as meteorological winter. This year, however, many Floridians are asking themselves “what winter?”

Authorities are still assessing damage in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties after two tornadoes touched ground early Monday morning.

Two crews from the National Weather Service in Miami inspected damage in South Florida -- one in Miami-Dade County in Hialeah and Miami Springs, the second in Palm Beach County near Palm Beach and Juno Springs.

Watches and warnings were issued Sunday, but some civilians were caught by surprise as the storm crept up on them early Monday morning.

Florida Governor Rick Scott is expecting the federal government to help out in the wake of Hurricane Hermine.

The governor is asking for federal assistance to help cover the cost of this month’s storm. Scott says the damages have surpassed a federal threshold.

“So we’ll get that filed and hopefully we’ll get that approved quickly so we can make sure we’re helping each of these counties,” Scott says. “I had the opportunity as you know to visit some of these areas that had this unbelievable storm surge and it really hurt a lot of these families.”

The 10th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season was an odd one: When the National Weather Service announced the formation of Tropical Storm Julia in northeastern Florida on Tuesday night, it marked one of the few known instances of such a storm developing over land rather than open water.

It’s the height of Hurricane Season and a tropical wave is moving through The Bahamas.

It will cause widespread rain and cloudiness in Florida this week, said Florida Public Radio Emergency Network Meteorologist Jeff Huffman.

Rain and cloudiness is expected across the peninsula Tuesday, generally rotating around a weak area of low pressure from east to west. Some of the rain could be locally heavy, especially in the afternoon hours when there may be some enhancement from sea breeze interactions.

Governor Rick Scott says the City of Tallahassee needs more help in restoring power to the more than 20,000 customers still in the dark. It’s been four days since Hurricane caused most of Leon County and the Big Bend to go dark. Local officials have been criticized for not accepting all the offers of assistance that they could have. Scott told reporters Monday evening more help is on the way.

More than 90 percent of the electricity should be back on across Leon County on Monday and 98 percent by Wednesday, local officials told Gov. Rick Scott as cleanup from Hurricane Hermine continued Sunday.

Early Friday Hurricane Hermine became the first such storm to make landfall in Florida in more than a decade. With damage across North Florida, Big Bend residents will be putting in lots of recover work during the Labor Day weekend.

Tropical Storm Hermine may be headed out of Northeast Florida, but Meteorologist Jeff Huffman says tropical moisture will linger for a couple of days.

“That counter clockwise spin will keep those winds out of the south and west out of the Gulf of Mexico, and that will keep our rain chances elevated through Saturday, and some of that rain could be locally heavy, and it could occur at any time of day.”

He adds, the leftover spin from the exiting storm could also still produce a quick tornado, especially before 6 p.m. Friday.